It's only Monday. John McCain announced his selection of Sarah Palin as his VP on Friday. Given that we've had a hurricane, the wrap of one convention, the beginning of another, and all of it over a Labor Day weekend, it's amazing how many questions about Palin --- and McCain's judgment in selecting her --- have come to light in just the past four days.

Were it not for the near-total lock on the media by the right wing, I can't see how she'd possibly make it through another week, much less the General Election. Even with that lock, I still don't see how she ultimately survives at this rate.

(Though Dem partisans might be careful what they wish for, as a second shot at it will almost certainly bring a more sensible, and palatable, pick.)

The most salacious of the concerns (so far) came today, as 1) the admission that Palin's unwed teenage daughter is pregnant and 2) she's now lawyering up in Alaska to fight the "TrooperGate" investigation.

And then there are all the other concerns and questions, becoming legion by the hour. The mountain of revelations has led conservative Andrew Sullivan to declare, in regard to McCain's arguably most important decision of the campaign: "McCain is more incompetent as an executive than Bush."

Obama partisan John Aravosis notes that McCain had six months to the make this decision, "longer to consider that choice than any other presidential candidate in history." Yet tomorrow's New York Times reveals that after McCain's first choices of Lieberman and Ridge were nixed by the wingnuts, he caved to them, and hastily installed Palin with virtually no vetting whatsoever. Add that to what's already known about McCain's flubbed roll-out of Palin (she was in favor of the "Bridge to Nowhere" before she was against it, she raised taxes even though they said she was a tax-cutter, etc.) and this Veep nomination is clearly in trouble

And if all of the above wasn't disaster enough for both Palin, and more importantly, McCain, there are the more routine questions of her actual positions and qualifications. You know, the stuff that's normally important to someone nominated to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Take a look at this painful drubbing that McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds took from CNN's Campell Brown, of all people (she leans consistently right, and is married to diehard Bush Admin loyalist Dan Senor --- a point the network, to my knowledge, and its continuing shame, rarely, if ever, discloses) on the topic of Palin's foreign affairs experience...or utter lack thereof.

Then there's the more mundane, such as this chestnut, courtesy of Andrew Sullivan again:

Q: Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

The phrase was added in 1954.

How she survives, I can only imagine; it has to be because we live in the media world we live in. But never mind what happens, for the truth of the issue, no matter how it's reported, Sullivan sums it up nicely:

"You know what this pick reminds me of? Invading a country with no plans for what to do once you got there."

It's becoming more and more obvious that Palin was not properly vetted.

Sarah Palin, to this day supports and spoke words of encouragement to the AIP political party at their 2008 Convention, a secessionist organization whose platform still includes secession by Alaska and whose founding member, Joe Vogler, refused to be considered an American citizen:

"I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."

McCain has met with this woman personally for maybe an hour total and is just now sending campaign officials to Alaska to do a proper background check. His campaign even tried to say the FBI had vetted her in their effort to cover up this fiasco.

This entire Palin selection is a Rovian head fake. It was designed by Rove to accomplish two goals. First and foremost, to take ALL of the air out of the media that the Obama camp was destined to carry into the GOP convention. It did that, in spades. The echo just simply stopped. The news cycle yesterday was absent of any analysis or follow-through on Obama's speech...itself a major coup for Rove. It’s as though the entire media machine stopped speaking of anything “Democratic,” in unison.

Secondly, the (apparent) selection of Palin throws a bone to the Puma's and to women generally…one that McCain doesn’t have to necessarily follow through with, but made for a nice (disingenuous) photo-op.

Third; they're just not that stupid not to have known about the controversy - and her familial requirements and responsibilities (Downs Syndrome newborn to care for). In short, their unbelievable choice is in fact, unbelievable..."a straw-woman."

By the time the convention occurs, news will come out that the GOP's own investigators have determined that, while no proof of wrong doing exists, the mere investigation of it is a distraction that the GOP simply cannot afford so close to the election. As such, the announcement that either Lieberman or Romney have become McCain’s choice will come as a massive relief to the GOP base, and capture the entire news cycle for weeks to come. If Rove thought it would be impossible for a McCain/Lieberman ticket to succeed without some form of trickery, he would have dreamed this up, making Lieberman look good by comparison. All of the push-back will already be out of the system.

He’s pulled these same stunts in the past – like putting Bernie Kerik’s name into nomination only to pull him and install Chertoff as Homeland Security Dictator. Remember when the name of Harriet Miers was put forward for a Supreme Court position? Remember? A fire storm of push back erupted, only to be followed by the swift and easy confirmation of Roberts, who looked like a breath of fresh air BY COMPARISON. THEY ARE GAMING YOU!

I've long suspected that McCain would not be the GOP candidate on the ticket come November. I've had various ideas about how the NeoCons might get rid of him, and I admit that this wasn't one of the scenarios I imagined. But now I do wonder if we're seeing the beginning of a chain of events that will lead to my prediction coming true.

Rove singled out Virginia governor Tim Kaine, also a Face The Nation guest, as an example of a purely politically motivated pick.

"With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished," Rove said. "I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America."

Rove continued: "So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States.""

Imagine Obama had chosen a VP as ridiculous as Palin, who, apparently, has been only to Canada, outside the country.

Tucker Bounds makes a fool of himself trying to resist the obvious.. How pathetic!

If Plunger isn't right, he making a great deal of sense, as usual. If McCain gets cancer again or is deemed to be too feeble or insane, I think I know who is the knight in shining armor is going to be.

You know, Em, for the longest time I didn't believe they were going to nominate McCain. I guess technically they haven't yet, and I'd certainly want to fire his ass after this circus if I were a Republican, but... well... every time I try to content myself our politics can't get any stupider, it gets way stupider. So I finally have come to accept that it's this stupid. They are all completely inured to defending the inanity of their choices --- outright jaw-droppingly successfully so far --- and I think they're going to run with it.

Are those grape Kool-Aid stains I see? Here's the best example of spin I've seen in a while. Textbook stuff.
re: The Pledge
I'm 67. The "under God" was added after I left elementary school, with its daily flag ceremony. I find it awkward (and unconstitutional) to mouth the added words and comma. I'd guess that in 55 years, I've been in no more than a half dozen circumstances where the pledge was said, and haven't said the addition yet.

If you ask me...she was never really elected. Remember the fight over the memory cards that when finally handed over a year or so later after a court battle, they had a huge chunk missing? If she was elected that cycle or not, it is tell tale of what's going on across the bridge to nowhere!

Yep the Pledge of Allegiance was a full blown Socialist pledge and up until Hitler in the 30s when people recited it they held their right arm out in front of them exactly like a Nazi Sieg Heil.
hand over heart came during WWII and "under god" was ILLEGALLY added in response to the utterly insane McCarthyism of the 50's.
Same with "in god we trust" on paper money, totally unconstitutional and illegal yet there it is.

Palin is just the usual ignorant Christian that has no clue what the hell she is talking about concerning with US history.
For that matter since she is also a "Creationist" she has no idea about the real world that surround her either.
I fail to see how McSame could have picked a worse candidate short of just strolling into an insane asylum and going eeni meeny miny moe.

But sadly it makes no difference because the MSM is already putting McSame FAR higher in the polls that he really is, there is no way in hell that McSame is within 10 points.
They are going to steal this election just they did 2000 & 04'.

IF palin lasts, Joe Biden will eat her alive! It's almost a shame, thinking of putting her omto the same stage - even the creampuff questions Wolverine Blitzer or similar GOP stalking horse would ask would show how out of it she is.

I agree with Mark Crispin Miller that a 10% spread is necessary to battle the shenanigans that GOP operatives will attempt to employ via faulty and vulnerable voting systems as well as classic voter suppression techniques.

So one more possibility is that Palin may help provide cover (like the 'Bradley Effect' and others) for analysts who try to posthumously explain away an unnatural shift from polling to the official results. Just trying to stay a step ahead - I imagine there are some hidden benefits to this selection that aren't immediately apparent.

I think McCain is counting on the sex appeal effect. He expects us to vote for the Barbies: Budweiser Barbie and BP Barbie. I hope we have more sense than that. It would be horrible to elect McCain and have hime get sick or die so that the inexperienced sex symbol would be President.

The Obama DNC speech was very powerful, and I think he did what he needed to do in Denver. That's where it ends for people.

Rove and McCain's move to break the game open and take the glory of the speech away from Obama is like making a chess move which gives up you're queen for 5 pawns. It's dramatic, and you make people wonder "what is this?", but you have also just taken yourself out of the game over the long haul.

The only issue McCain had was to pound away at Obama's inexperience, and he lost that with the choice of Palin.

It's gonna get ugly for the Repub's, and I know they really do a good job of falling behind the leader, but this time the leader is in free fall!

That is a great article! It's funny because what first got me interested about this whole thing was that article by "The Hill" which Beverly Harris pointed out because none of the media was. The story was that one of Chuck Hagel's staff told "The Hill" to "kill" the story about Hagel's involvement with the voting machine company that became Diebold.

Try to click on the link to the story Thom Hartmann put in the article. Look's like Hagel's office got what they wanted.

I'm thinking we're going to end up with Hagel/Romney. Game over! Liberals lose! Who left the sheeps clothing over there?

ABOUT SARA PALIN : VERY INTERESTING ! PLS FWD:
I hope I am not using precious space onthis blog but i found this extremely eye opening and worth sharing.

"This is an email I received from a good friend in New York City. She is a Bryn Mawr graduate, and is a physician currently engaged in cancer research. This is an email she received from a Bryn Mawr classmate of hers who lives in Alaska.
Because you, like me, may never have heard of Sarah Palin until today, you may find this an interesting perspective from an Alaskan resident.

Dear classmates -

As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain’s choice for VP. As an Alaska voter, I now more than most of you about her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.

The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her husband works in the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races snow mobiles. She is a life time member of the NRA and has worked tirelessly to allow indiscriminate hunting of wildlife in Alaska, particularly wolves and bears. She has spent millions of Alaska state dollars on aerial hunting of these predators from helicopters and airplanes, dollars that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska’s failing school system.We have the lowest rate of high school graduation in the country. Not all of you may think aerial predator hunting is so bad, but how anyone (other than Alaska wolf-haters, of which there are many, most without teeth), could think this use of funds is appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know more about the aerial hunting travesty, let me know and I will send some links to informative web sites.

It is amazing how the Palin announcement about her daughter's pregnancy threw the media off track of the real story - the day last April when her water broke while she was attending an "energy forum" in Texas, a closed-door meeting of 9 Republican governors and five energy industry CEOs.

Not only did she stay and give her 30-minute speech after her water broke, she also refused to go to a Texas hospital, insisting on flying back to Alaska, then driving another 43 miles to the hospital of her choosing before at last giving birth to the child she soon admitted was a baby with Down Syndrome.

It was this story, along with her lack of "showing" - even at 7 months when she surprised everyone with the announcement of her own pregnancy, along with her daughter's absence from school, that started rumors about whose baby Trig was.

Now, the Governor's announcement about Bristol's pregnancy in response to those rumours, followed by Obama's compassionate statement telling the media to "back off" the kids, must have the Rovian consultants laughing about their very effective tactic.

I must admit, though, I'd also like to know why the Governor handled the childbirth in this way, risking both a dangerous infection and full blown labor mid-air. Would she have done the same if she hadn't known the child had Down Syndrome?

Reliable sources close to Palin have recently said that her decision to influence voters to vote against a return to state protection of its salmon fishery and the largest industry contributing to the state’s economy was in part due to her desire to take advantage of the willingness of mining interests to support her further political aspirations “if you can give us what we need”. Namely the financial benefit of continued relaxed regulation against pollution of salmon spawning waters and potential drinking water in Alaska initiated by the Murkowski administration. Governor Palin has been under consideration for some time as a potential candidate for Vice President on the Republican ticket, and mining money is interested in helping with the achievement of that goal, having little use for environmental regulation and protection and the related expense of compliance with such requirements. Understandably, the potential of a highly placed and able political ally in the White House is extremely attractive, especially one indebted to them. Her response was to “take off her Governor’s hat” and utilize the media to encourage voters to vote against the repair of vital regulations for safeguarding salmon spawning and potential drinking water. Governor Palin’s “stand against corruption” has been useful in producing other spinoffs which are potentially very beneficial to the mining industry, one of which has been enthusiastic and unhesitating cooperation in the corruption investigation of Senator Ted Stevens, who has been a very vocal opponent of the Pebble Project, and whose “removal from the process” would further pave the way for such projects in the future.
Coming forward was “a requirement of conscience, especially in light of the Governor’s apparent betrayal of her highly visible stand against corruption and desire to promote clean political practices” these sources said, calling such actions “at the very least unethical, and possibly illegal”. They went on to say that thousands of Alaskans economically dependent on the salmon fishery have expressed their concern and the belief that they have been “betrayed” and “sold out”.

Just seen on TV that both Obama and Biden voted for the Bridge to Nowhere earmark. In fact, Obama has never voted against any earmark in the Senate while Biden has voted only against a couple. Also listed are the multi-millions that Obama earmarked for Illinois and the smaller millions Biden earmarked for his State. It is worth noting that only US Senators can request earmarks. Governors do not possess that privilege. NOW WHO DO YOU TRUST?